Related Stories

Whether he leaves town unable to finally restore glory to one of the NHL’s most historic franchises or is the lead man in a victory parade, Brian Burke’s inaugural words here will forever be remembered.

Delivered with stern face and vintage Burke forthrightness the day after being hired in late November, 2008, the lines have been recited repeatedly since.

Sometimes it is in mocking tone, certainly a more prevalent sentiment given the team’s struggles.

Earlier, it was in admiration after too many seasons of perceived softness, a welcome philosophy for a Maple Leaf club that at that point had only missed the playoffs for three consecutive seasons.

“We require, as a team, proper levels of pugnacity, testosterone, truculence and belligerence,” Burke began his introductory press conference at the Air Canada Centre. “That’s how our teams play.

“I make no apologies for that. Our teams play a North American game. We’re throwbacks. It’s black-and-blue hockey. It’s going to be more physical hockey here than people are used to.”

For the most part, the Leafs teams here have barely resembled the Burke blueprint, used to his most success when he captured a Stanley Cup with Anaheim in 2007. And the results on the ice and in the standings have surely reflected that disconnect.

The push back has never been less evident than in recent weeks when all sense of fight has departed the players on the roster. A humiliating 7-1 loss to Philadelphia on Thursday was the latest slap. A Flyers team never shy about pushing around an opponent didn’t have to bother as the Leafs skated through the motions.

The truculence Burke so admires can come in many forms, of course. Fighting is only a part of it and indeed in the near four seasons he’s been in charge here, that role in the game has been de-emphasized.

But keeping opponents honest is essential in Burke’s world. One of his other early declarations was the need to have visiting teams fear coming into the Air Canada Centre to play. The reality has been the opposite, of course, and that’s not just based on the recent franchise-record, 11-game home losing streak.

In reality, opponents love to come here. They love to play in front of family and friends in a building that is generally quiet. They love playing a team that doesn’t give their goalie the business by creating traffic in front of the net or make you pay every time there is a loose puck to fight for.

And they love playing against teams that offer next to no resistance. So easy was the task on Thursday that the Flyers essentially rested two of their top players — Claude Giroux and Scott Hartnell — for much of the game.

“The first thing and probably the easiest thing to change on your team is the amount of the snarl, the amount of the bite,” Burke said upon his hiring. “That’s an important part of how my teams play.”

It sounds like a comedy reel now, doesn’t it?

A group of undersized forwards unwilling to engage physically (with Mike Brown and Jay Rosehill being the lone, notable exceptions now that Joffrey Lupul is gone for the season due to injury) can’t score an ugly goal if their NHL life depends on it. Unless captain Dion Phaneuf goes on a maniacal tear during the team’s final four games, the Leafs won’t have a player with 100 or more penalty minutes for just the second time since 1967.

You can argue the wisdom of having such toughness in the lineup, but it’s always been a component Burke has valued highly.

Burke’s biggest step towards adding that snarl was acquiring a legitimate heavyweight in Colton Orr. That July 1, 2009 signing — four years at $1 million per — couldn’t have come at a worse time. While Orr got in his share of fights in his first season, the league began to shift away from having the need for a designated duker. Add in a concussion midway through the 2010-11 season and Orr was never the same, eventually being put on waivers and sent down to the Marlies this season.

(The game may be changing, but Burke’s mantra sure hasn’t. Upon Orr’s demotion, the GM called a press conference in which he lamented the move. “If we don’t have guys looking after each other, the rats will take over the game.”)

Burke can’t be faulted for the decline of pugilism in the NHL, nor the fact that the big forwards he (and every GM in the league) so desperately wants have not been widely available at the trade deadline or in free agency. And the loss of Colby Armstrong’s grit is more concussion related than managerial error.

In fact, there’s nothing not to like about Burke’s rationale for added sandpaper, best said with another excerpt from his inaugural address: “That’s how you provide a fear-free environment for your young players. That’s how you develop young players where they don’t have to worry about picking their teeth out of the glass or getting their faces washed.”

Different set of circumstances, but the sense of concern the current Leafs have about young teammates was on display Thursday when they left rookie goaltender Jussi Rynnas out to dry in his first career start.

While never going so far as to say his team was soft, Burke was clearly not pleased with the style it was playing this season. In fact, the closest the GM came to criticizing Ron Wilson on his way out the door was to suggest there was a divide in their approach.

Wilson’s run and gun style didn’t need big forwards devoted to creating havoc in front of the net. It didn’t need fighters — the reason Orr and Jay Rosehill almost never made it into the lineup — and it emphasized quick puck movement rather than pounding opponents into submission.

“If there’s one philosophical commitment that Randy and I share, I like a rough team,” Burke said at Randy Carlyle’s introductory press conference in Montreal. “If you can point to one thing where Ron and I were on a different page, slightly, it would be that. I like it a little rougher than Ron does.

“(Carlyle) is hard on the players, he’s demanding. And that’s the way I want it.”

Carlyle may like it rougher as well, but he had to experience a culture shock when he arrived in the Toronto dressing room and took stock of his assets. One of his first moves was to put Mike Komisarek back in the lineup to add some bang. But when the big blueliner became a defensive liability, Carlyle put him back in the press box as a healthy scratch.

It has been a work in progress to transition the roster players from the Wilson style and most practices have lengthy “battle” drills to improve toughness on the puck. But it is becoming evident by the day that Carlyle doesn’t have anywhere near the type of players necessary to satisfy the style preferred both by him and his general manager.

A telling moment about just how feared the team is now came in the Leafs’ first visit to Ottawa under Carlyle’s watch. In his morning meeting with the media, Senators coach Paul MacLean was asked whether he intended to inject some toughness into his lineup for the evening’s contest. The response, while somewhat tongue in cheek, had a little dig at Burke’s infamous proclamation.

“The games haven’t been as truculent as they might have been in the past,” MacLean said. “The games seem to be more skill games now.”

rob.longley@sunmedia.ca

twitter.com/longleysunsport

Fights aren’t the only measure of truculence and toughness, but with Ron Wilson as the head coach, the idea of scrapping was an afterthought.

It’s a reason Colton Orr and Jay Rosehill were under-utilized leaving the always game Mike Brown as the team’s top pugilist.

Brown, who is a middleweight at best, leads the Leafs with 10 fights this season, but that’s only 18th overall in the league.

According to hockeyfights.com, the Leafs have engaged in just 33 fights this season, down from 50 a year ago and 57 in 2009-10. That 33 total ranks them 15th in the league, almost half as many as the Rangers at 63.

Captain Dion Phaneuf is the Leafs’ leader in penalty minutes with 88. If he fails to get 12 more minutes in the team’s final four games, it will be just the second time since 1967-68 that the team hasn’t had at least one player with a minimum of 100 PIMs. (In fairness, with 72 PIMs in 46 games, Mike Brown would have easily hit it if healthy long enough.)

Different era, of course, but in his 111-point season in 1993-94 Doug Gilmour had 104 penalty minutes, one of seven Leafs to top the century mark.